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ARSENAL: Banfield: 'We didn't pass the ball well'

/noticias.info/ on the performance...
"I was disappointed with the way we played but I’ll take the result. They’ve worked really hard tonight. I would have liked us to have played some more football but there’s always an edge to the Arsenal-Tottenham games and I think maybe one or two players took that on to the pitch and got a bit nervous."

on his half-time team talk...
"At half-time I said to them, ‘relax and enjoy it. OK, it’s Arsenal-Tottenham but have the confidence to go and play.’ It's disappointing that we really didn’t pass the ball as well as we can do and I said make sure that we show the quality that we have got, that we pass the ball and that we pass and move like Arsenal do. That was the biggest disappointment for me."

on the missed penalty...
"In football you’re going to miss penalties. He [Lupoli] got up and got on with it but he was disappointed in himself. I said to him, ‘you’ve scored a lot of goals this year, go and get another one in the second half.’ I think he was trying too hard at times but in the end he got himself a goal."

on Nicklas Bendtner...
"He’s scoring goals but I think we’re looking for collective team players. Although he scored the goal, and if you look at all the young players on today’s performance, I think he’d be a little disappointed with his team play. But that’s young players, they go up and down and he’ll be back on the training ground in the week and working at it again."

on the 'little n’ large' strike partnership...
"Obviously Nicklas gives us that option, but we don’t want to get too involved in the long ball. Obviously at times we want to use it but we want to play the right way and that’s part and parcel of football."

on the defence...
"It was a young back four, marshalled by Manuel Almunia. Matthew [Connolly] has put in another steady performance, he’s progressing well."

on Song and Muamba...
"I thought they did well. Alex has shown some really good signs and Fabrice is on his tail as well. I was quite pleased with those two in midfield to be honest."

on the opposition...
"To be fair to Spurs, we both had young sides. We haven’t played well, but I suppose that is a learning curve, sometimes you’re not going to play well and win. They battled away, got the two-nil and hopefully that will stand them in good stead for later on in their careers."

on playing in front of a vociferous crowd...
"I thought in the last 10 minutes we looked tired, but I think the players stood up, they got their heads on the ball and I think they did the nitty-gritty side. It’s invaluable experience for them because when they go away to places and need to dig out a result, this experience might come to the fore I think." notas_de_prensa_archivo